Virtue is Happiness

We tend to think of happiness as a mere feeling, something nice but unnecessary, something transient and superficial. However, happiness has always been a topic of deep interest to philosophers, and there is a long Christian tradition of both what happiness truly is and also how important it is.

Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Pascal, Lewis – all agree that what people are searching for is happiness. And that is not a sinful search, but a proper one. We were created to live in perfect harmony and happiness with God and man, and we long for what we have lost in the Fall. Thus, only God satisfies the search for happiness, a search we should all make because it does lead us to God:

Happiness is the condition of genuine human fulfillment and flourishing rooted in a relationship with God, whose mercy and grace demonstrated in Jesus Christ reorders our loves and lives in righteousness and virtuous ways so that we are able to enjoy – indeed, to relish – all aspects of life and creation appropriately in Him.

[The Christian faith] encourages believing people to discover what it means to be fully and truly human, to live exuberantly and fruitfully as God’s creatures abiding in God’s creation that was, and is, very good.

It is not simply that happiness is required of us – a grateful heart delights to obey – but happiness is also the fruit of obedience. Naugle, in contrasting Edenic and Hedonistic visions of happiness, points out six ingredients of God’s original blessing of a happy life in Eden:

obedience

fulfilling work

companionship

free enjoyment of food

rest & play

beautiful surroundings

These six conditions, six provisions, composed human life before the fall.

To the extent that we can develop all six in our lives (and our homeschools, for that matter), we will find true happiness.

Bear with this quote by Augustine, on rightly ordering right loves for virtue and thereby happiness:

But the title happy cannot belong either 1) to him who has not what he loves, whatever it may be, or 2) to him who has what he loves it is is hurtful, or 3) to him who does not love what he has, although it is good […] I find, then, a fourth case, where the happy life exists: when that which is man’s chief good is both loved and possessed.

12 Responses

Corena Stacy

A novel I loved so much I want to give it to every woman I know is Journey to the Well by Diana Wallis Taylor, it is a fictional back story to the Samaritan woman at the well. It touched me and inspired me, and taught me more about the Samaritans and who they were. Or at least inspired me to find out more about them.

Jessica Perteet

I loved The Scent of Water, much better than Pilgrim’s Inn which I finished last month. Right now I am reading The Harvester by Gene Stratton Porter and am enjoying it. I will have to put that book on my to read list. Do you ever put books on your interval plan list?

Virginia Lee Rogers

A lightish read: Tremendous Trifles by G.K Chesterton. I’m reading it now and loving it.

It’s 31 short essays on ordinary things and how extraordinary they are. Which of course he uses “as a springboard to expound on Christianity, family, democracy, and the like, with supreme clarity and wit.”

Or P.G. Wodehouse is often good for a light read. If you’d rather have fiction. =)

Leisa

One book that I love as a light read is Freckles by Gene Stratton Porter. I love reading multiple books at a time. It allows me the freedom to always have another book to switch to for whatever mood I am in. However, I have noticed a bit of a problem when I have a light read in the mix, I only want to read the light one. How do you not become overwhelmed just reading the light book??

One way I try to overcome that temptation is to only pick up the light reading in the evenings or on the weekend, and reserve some morning or early afternoon time for reading something mind-improving. :)

Hi! I’m Mystie. At Simply Convivial I write about managing a full life as a mom: not only on productivity hacks, organization tools, and homeschool curriculum, but also on cheerful attitudes and necessary habits. Together, let’s get a handle on our roles, responsibilities, and mindsets so we can flourish where we are called to serve.